Baiju R Shah1, Jeremiah Hwee2, Sonia S Anand3, Peter C Austin4, Douglas G Manuel5, Janet E Hux2. 1. Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences, Toronto, ON, Canada; University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada; Department of Medicine, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, Toronto, ON, Canada. Electronic address: baiju.shah@ices.on.ca. 2. Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences, Toronto, ON, Canada. 3. McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada. 4. Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences, Toronto, ON, Canada; University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada. 5. Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences, Toronto, ON, Canada; University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada.
Abstract
AIMS: To determine whether sharing the same ethnicity as their family physician influenced the quality of diabetes care for Chinese and South Asian patients in Ontario, Canada. METHODS: We conducted two related studies: a population-based cohort study of Chinese and South Asian patients with incident diabetes using health care administrative data (n=49,484), and a cross-sectional study of Chinese and South Asian patients with established diabetes using data collected directly from their family physicians' clinical records (n=416). In both studies, quality of care measures were compared between patients whose family physicians were or were not from the same ethnic group. RESULTS: In the cohort study, Chinese patients whose family physicians were also Chinese were more likely to have a diabetes-related family physician visit and appropriate HbA1c and cholesterol testing. In the cross-sectional study, they were more likely to have foot examinations, to have microalbuminuria testing, and to achieve recommended treatment targets for HbA1c and for LDL-cholesterol. In contrast, for South Asian patients, most quality measures in either study did not differ by physician ethnicity. CONCLUSIONS: Having a family physician from the same ethnic group was associated with better quality of diabetes care for Chinese but not for South Asian patients.
AIMS: To determine whether sharing the same ethnicity as their family physician influenced the quality of diabetes care for Chinese and South Asian patients in Ontario, Canada. METHODS: We conducted two related studies: a population-based cohort study of Chinese and South Asian patients with incident diabetes using health care administrative data (n=49,484), and a cross-sectional study of Chinese and South Asian patients with established diabetes using data collected directly from their family physicians' clinical records (n=416). In both studies, quality of care measures were compared between patients whose family physicians were or were not from the same ethnic group. RESULTS: In the cohort study, Chinese patients whose family physicians were also Chinese were more likely to have a diabetes-related family physician visit and appropriate HbA1c and cholesterol testing. In the cross-sectional study, they were more likely to have foot examinations, to have microalbuminuria testing, and to achieve recommended treatment targets for HbA1c and for LDL-cholesterol. In contrast, for South Asian patients, most quality measures in either study did not differ by physician ethnicity. CONCLUSIONS: Having a family physician from the same ethnic group was associated with better quality of diabetes care for Chinese but not for South Asian patients.
Authors: Eva Tseng; Raquel C Greer; Paul O'Rourke; Hsin-Chieh Yeh; Maura M McGuire; Jeanne M Clark; Nisa M Maruthur Journal: J Gen Intern Med Date: 2017-07-20 Impact factor: 5.128